Android Lollipop is finally here

Android Lollipop is finally here. Google have quietly announced their latest version of the Android OS this afternoon which features some much discussed new features. It will be initially available for Nexus 5 and 7 devices before being released with the new Nexus 6 and Nexus 9.

Material Design

The most apparent new feature of Android Lollipop is the new Material Design, which not only gives Android a fresh new look but also provides a much greater level of feedback. In an article on the BBC Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google engineering chief, said that the additional animation present in the interface design is “eye candy, but at the same time there’s a purpose to them. They give feedback to the customer that you’ve tapped here, and the software got it, and is doing something about it,”.

Split Personality

Lollipop will also feature multiple home and work personalities. These will allow companies to have a control over their data and allow them to wipe or remove data without affecting the users personal data. The users images and content will remain in place. Samsungs Knox has been doing this for a while and of course Blackberry have made this a key part of their Blackberry 10 OS.

Better Notifications

The notifications in Lollipop have been massively overhauled with a much greater level of control and customisation available to Android users. Notifications will appear on the lockscreen and you can customise which notifications and from whom they appear. You can also allow only key contacts to disturb you using Priority mode, enabled by the volume key.

Users for phones

Finally phone users will get the Users feature that has currently only been in place for Android tablet users. This will allow you to set up multiple users for your phone as well as enable Guest mode to allow people access to the phone without being able to access your data. You will also be able to log on to another Lollipop phone and access your contacts and make calls. This means if you leave your phone you can still get in touch by borrowing another handset.

The full release information can be found on the Google site and you really should take a read. The first release will be available on Friday 17th November from Googles Developer site.